[Goldfisch]

Gold ends flat in New York
May 4, 2004 - 8:05AM


In NEW YORK, COMEX gold ended flat on Monday, seesawing in holiday-thinned trade after South Africa's Harmony Gold said it closed out the hedge book of a small mining company it had recently purchased.

There was little incentive to trade before Tuesday's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting on U.S. interest rates.

June gold settled unchanged from Friday at $387.50 an ounce, trading to $390.00 after hitting $386.10 an ounce when the Harmony news came out.

Estimated volume was a tame 35,000 contracts. Spot gold closed at $386.90/7.70, off from $387.20/8.00 late Friday.

July silver fell 6.2 cents to $6.028 an ounce, trading $6.165 to $5.86. On Thursday, fund selling toppled it to its lowest price since Dec. 11's $5.555. A month ago silver was at 16-year highs near $8.50.

Spot silver was last quoted at $6.05/07, little changed from the close Friday at $6.02/07.

NYMEX July platinum rose $12.50 to $806.70 an ounce. Spot platinum was quoted at $809.00/814.00.

June palladium went up $3.20 to $261.50 an ounce. Spot fetched $260.00/265.00.


In NEW YORK, NYMEX gasoline futures posted another all-time record high and crude oil futures rose sharply on Monday as security fears and US gasoline supply concerns fuelled a rally, traders said.

A weekend attack at a Saudi Arabian refinery in Yanbu kept security fears uppermost in the market even though the world's No. 1 oil exporter vowed to guard its oil assets after gunmen on Saturday killed five workers at a petrochemical complex.

In the front-month spot after Friday's May expiration, NYMEX June gasoline settled 2.66 cents or 2.2 per cent higher at $1.2620 a gallon, trading from $1.2290 to a record high of $1.2680. That record was above key resistance charted earlier at $1.2670 and eclipsed the $1.2650 record posted just Friday.

NYMEX June crude settled 83 cents or 2.2 per cent higher at $38.21 a barrel. It bounced off support early at $37.25, which matched Friday's session low. Monday's session high of $38.30 matched the April 19 high of $38.30.

In London, the International Petroleum Exchange was shut for a public holiday. IPE June Brent on Friday settled 3 cents higher at $34.48 a barrel.

Also Monday, Kuwaiti energy minister Sheikh Ahmad al-Fhad al-Sabah said he doesn't think OPEC members will go through with agreed April 1 output cuts due to high prices.